Vander Linden Musings

So- we’re back from our vacation.  It was wonderful to be able to see everyone!  Here’s our daily log (from memory!)

So the 17th we flew in.  We’re walking to get our car, Jake walks a suitcase over a speed bump and since his arms were full, he fell flat on his face.  Here’s a picture of that owie…

We met Beckey, Tony and their kids at Denny’s.  They bought us tickets to go to the Buffalo Bandits Championship game, so we told them we would buy them dinner.  We lucked out!  All the kids were free on Saturday nights!!!  After dinner we made our way to the Bandits game.  It was SO much fun!!!  During the game the guy on the PA system yells- “Buffalo WHAT?”  Then we yell “BANDITS!!!”  The PA guy yells when the other team misses a shot- “What’s he got???”  We yell, “NOTHING!!!”  The kids got into it so much!  At the end the Bandits won.  I was so excited I jumped up and down and screamed and felt my cell phone bounce right out of my pocket and onto a spectator below us (a full level down).  I was SO worried about the girl I hit and worried about the mula I spent to buy that phone 2 days earlier.  BJ was about 10 seats away from me and I yelled and pointed that I dropped my phone.  My hero BJ went down there while everyone was celebrating and retrieved the 3 pieces of my phone.  My lovely Samsung made phone went back together, had no scratches and works just fine!  We had a GREAT time at the game- so many thanks to Beckey and Tony Bartolotta for buying those tickets!  We got back to the hotel that night and Jake fell on the way and and got more scrapes…

The next day we went to church in Amherst.  I was able to see my friend Joy (used to be Ehrenburg) that I have known since I was young.  It was great to see her!  BJ saw someone he used to work with there too (he sees someone he knows EVERYWHERE!)  After church we met Grandma and Grandpa Badding and Beckey’s family.  We spent some time with them and went to my Mom’s that night where we met the most evil cat in the world.  Mom has a cat that swats and hisses at anyone that passes by (well except her).

On Monday we picked Amber up from work.  The great McDonald’s.  Later that night Russell, Ashley (Russell’s wife), Amy, Jeff(Amy’s hubby) and their kids, and Elizabeth came to Mom’s to have a get together.  We had a great time just sitting and laughing like little kids.

Gerritt got to mow the lawn for Grandpa.  He was excited about that!  We also ordered real pizza and wings from John and Mary’s.  YUM!!!

On Thursday we drove to Dad and Christine’s, then headed down to Johnsonburg, Pennsylvania to see Grandma and Grandpa Mowrey.  On the way down Josh fell asleep and started singing songs in his sleep.  We videotaped it with my cell phone- it was SO funny!  Grandma made us some some yummy food!  We stayed one night there and headed  back to Canaseraga.  Next day we went to see Indiana Jones.  Christine and I made faces at each other through out the movie- making fun of how realistic it ISN’T.  But it was fun.  We made smores over the fire that night.

Next day we went to church, and AGAIN BJ saw someone he knew from another workplace!  SO not fair that he sees someone he knows everywhere we go!!!

On Monday we went back to Amherst and got together with Beckey and crew.  We went to the movies with them that day too- the boys (and Beckey’s daughter Katie) all went to  see IRON MAN.  Beckey and I had some time off and went to see WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS.  Very funny movie.  The boys enjoyed their movie and we enjoyed ours!!!

We went to Niagara Falls to enjoy the scenery there…

For the rest of the week we saw Grandma and Grandpa Badding a few more times and went to dinner with Beckey and crew a few times.  One of the nights we went to a park and had Santora’s (the best there is!) pizza and wings.  Jake ran into something and gave himself a huge goose egg.  By the time I took the picture- the swelling had gone down- DARN- it looked cool!

Our last day there- we met Beckey for lunch and went to the Anchor bar… HOME of the chicken wing!  So YUMMY!!!

It was a nice vacation… but now life goes on.  We got home and our grass was SO long!!!  I was on the verge of going to get a riding mower just to mow it- but we did it- we got it mowed, without spending thousands of dollars!!!